Thigh-Bone Ruler of Shaihu’s Forest Hut

Overview

A sick orphan is forced to fetch water, then made to stand carrying it while her stepmother repeatedly postpones helping her. A whirlwind carries her into the forest, where a grass hut contains a thigh-bone and a dog. The bone’s repeated vocal signal is translated by the dog into invitations and questions. The girl bows and accepts its cooking requests without complaint. A single grain of rice fills the mortar and cooking pot; an old bone supplies a potful of meat. The account shows this abundance within the household rather than making the speaking thigh-bone itself the ingredient.

After further corn-cake preparation, the ruler directs the dog to provide cattle, sheep, horses, fowls, camels, ostriches, robes and enslaved people for her return journey. She returns in a procession, gives the chief a tenth of her property and marries him. Her envious stepmother sends her own daughter through the same ordeal. This girl mocks the bone’s speech and interpreter, questions the food and reserves most of the meal for herself.

The dog’s unauthorized angry response costs him human speech. On the next morning the bone sends the second girl home with a contrasting retinue, described through the historical text’s association of disability and illness with humiliation. When the dog tries to return to the forest household, the bone drives him away, so he follows her into town. The town’s chief sends the retinue outside its bounds, and the stepmother dies in distress. These are the two narrative outcomes; the bone remains in the forest hut.

Origins & earliest records

Malam Shaihu supplies the written Hausa material translated and transliterated by R. Sutherland Rattray. The compiler’s Author’s Note describes a mixed written and Arabic-manuscript mediation process; this tale is not labeled a verbatim oral field transcription by a separately named narrator.

Records & interpretation

Shaihu/Rattray, Hausa Folk-Lore, Customs, Proverbs, etc., Volume I (1913), tale 7, complete pp. 130–160; compiler methodology p. xii.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Hausa Folk-Lore, Customs, Proverbs, etc., Volume I

   Malam Shaihu, manuscript contributor; R. Sutherland Rattray, transliterator and translator · 1913

   Shaihu/Rattray, Hausa Folk-Lore, Customs, Proverbs, etc., Volume I (1913), tale 7, complete pp. 130–160; compiler methodology p. xii.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Bilingual manuscript tale; digitized primary OCRShaihu/Rattray 1913 — Thigh-Bone Ruler of Shaihu’s Forest HutResearch access: 2026-10-05
2. Compiler methodologyAuthor’s NoteResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.